Grow Local Colorado is a group of volunteers dedicated to promoting local food, local community, and local economy.
Making 2017 a Happy & Healthy Year
This is our ninth growing season and we plan on making it a very bountiful one with the help of our many volunteers. Here are the reasons why we do what we do:
Food Insecurity in Our Community: 1 in 8 Coloradans struggle with hunger. Even more disturbing is 1 in 5 Colorado kids are considered food insecure, meaning they don't always know when or where they will get their next meal. All of the food grown in our gardens goes to organizations that provide food for our neighbors in need.
Food Insecurity in Our Community: 1 in 8 Coloradans struggle with hunger. Even more disturbing is 1 in 5 Colorado kids are considered food insecure, meaning they don't always know when or where they will get their next meal. All of the food grown in our gardens goes to organizations that provide food for our neighbors in need.
Healthier Communities Grow Gardens: Gardeners on average consume at least twice as many fruits and vegetables as non-gardeners. More fruits and vegetables in our diets means reduced heart diseases, a drop in diabetes, and a significant drop in cancers. In schools with gardens test scores are higher. Students doing better in school have healthier options in life. People who share their time, talents and energy are generally healthier both mentally and physically. Ask any of our volunteers and they'll tell you their time in our garden gives them a sense of purpose, not to mention a smile for the rest of the day.
Food Contributes to Climate Change: It's not just our choices of transportation and heating and cooling our living spaces that contribute to climate change. Our diets play a significant role as well. Up to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to our food system. The average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to table. Industrial agriculture, how most of our food is produced, uses synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, most are petroleum products. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer produces nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300% more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere. Grow Local's gardens are organic and therefore actually store more carbon dioxide in the soil.
Healthier Economy: We support local businesses and organizations and in turn they support us. Locally owned businesses create communities that are more prosperous, entrepreneurial, connected, and generally better off across a wide range of metrics. For every $100 spent at a local business, $68 stays in the community. And local owned businesses contribute to local organizations at nearly twice the rate as large chains.
None of what we do is possible without the help of volunteers. We welcome groups and individuals from April through October. Projects can range from one hour to half a day to an hour a week from May through October. If you'd like to pitch in, contact Barbara at: GrowLocalColorado@gmail.com.
Join our Google Group
Grow Local Colorado is no longer sending out email newsletters.
We now have a listserv which will serve as a "Virtual Town Hall" so we can share information with each other!
Come join the fun!
Click the envelope above to send an eMail to join our NEW Google Group
or send an eMail to:
growlocalcolorado+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Questions?
Email: Dana@GrowLocalColorado.org
We now have a listserv which will serve as a "Virtual Town Hall" so we can share information with each other!
Come join the fun!
Click the envelope above to send an eMail to join our NEW Google Group
or send an eMail to:
growlocalcolorado+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Questions?
Email: Dana@GrowLocalColorado.org
A Community Effort
In the past seven years Grow Local Colorado's mission to grow and share fresh produce with and for those in our community lacking access to healthy food has grown in many ways. We started with one garden and now oversee ten. Our first season provided about 250 pounds of produce to three local organizations serving those in need. Last year we shared over 4,000 pounds of vegetables with a dozen such groups. We started with a handful of volunteers providing a little over 100 hours of their time to growing vegetables. In 2015 544 volunteers put in more than 1,000 hours starting seedlings, prepping gardens, weeding, harvesting, demonstrating food preparation and delivering fresh picked vegetables to organizations throughout the Metro Area. Our first season's harvest was valued at a few hundred dollars. Since then our gardens have produced over $40,000 worth of fresh vegetables. In short, we couldn't have done this without our volunteers. We are so deeply grateful for the time and talents shared by so many of you.
Unfortunately the numbers of hungry Metro residents has also grown. Therefore we are looking for groups to commit to one morning or evening per month, from June through September, to help in one of our gardens. We'll provide an experienced gardener to supervise the group. This is a fun way to enjoy an hour or two outdoors, while knowing you are helping your neighbors in need. If interested in helping, please contact us at: GrowLocalColorado@gmail.com.
Unfortunately the numbers of hungry Metro residents has also grown. Therefore we are looking for groups to commit to one morning or evening per month, from June through September, to help in one of our gardens. We'll provide an experienced gardener to supervise the group. This is a fun way to enjoy an hour or two outdoors, while knowing you are helping your neighbors in need. If interested in helping, please contact us at: GrowLocalColorado@gmail.com.
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